


Emotionally Inept

by truc



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Has Issues, Bruce has an emotional disability, Bruce is incapable of understanding his own feelings, Bruce needs help, Clark defending Bruce, Clark has enough, Clark loves Bruce, Disability, Emotional ineptness, Lack of resources or acknowledgement, M/M, One-Shot, Serious, emotional distress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25480723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truc/pseuds/truc
Summary: Clark explains Bruce's emotional disability to Lois to the best of his abilities.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent, Clark Kent & Lois Lane
Comments: 8
Kudos: 129





	Emotionally Inept

**Author's Note:**

> If this feels incomplete, it's because this is an outtake from a fic I'm writing that's supposed to be a comedy. For some reason, this chapter got too serious... Hence, why it ended posted as an unrelated one-shot. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it anyway!

They sat in one of their favourite hangout spots when Lois dropped the question.

Lois rose one eyebrow in Clark's direction. "I don't believe that you've never discussed with each other if you might be non-platonically attracted to each other. Is he in denial? Or are you?"

Lois didn't know Bruce _at all_.

"Lois, I think you've misunderstood something very fundamental; Bruce isn't in denial or avoidance. He genuinely doesn't know how to interpret his feelings, _any_ of them."

"You're kidding," Lois responded point-blank.

If only.

Years of friendship had given Clark a deep understanding of Bruce's greatness and flaws.

Clark was smart enough to know Bruce was a lot more farsighted than he was. With superspeed, Clark could think more quickly, that much was true, but Bruce's mind amazed him with its insights and knowledge far beyond Clark's reach.

When Batman yelled out an order during a battle, Clark obeyed it without hesitation, because Superman knew that Batman would make a much better judgment call than Superman could ever do, even with superspeed in his arsenal.

However, although Batman could read other people's feelings rapidly, he could never quite interpret his own. When Dick outgrew Robin and the Manor, Bruce spent days trying to figure out, in vain, what he was feeling. When Jason died, Bruce didn't perceive anything about his feelings except his unhealthy rage.

From what Clark had gathered over the years, Bruce could see if someone was aesthetic attractive but would fail to recognize whether he was attracted to that person. According to Alfred, Bruce would surely google the question: "how do I know if I am attracted to someone?" Then, he would spend hours studying a wiki-how step by step on the subject until abandoning the project because processing feelings isn't in his repertoire. It wasn't even a sexual identity issue, no, Bruce was _that_ out of touch with his feelings.

Clark's problem was that he wasn't out of touch with his feelings at all.

He'd known for some time that he was attracted to Bruce.

He hadn't brought the subject up to Bruce for one very simple reason: Bruce wasn't ready to have the discussion. If Clark forced the issue, it would go nowhere.

"Lois, I'm not in denial and, I'm not kidding about Bruce failing emotional tests about his feelings. If we had an emotional spectrum, Bruce would be in a heavily emotionally disabled section of the graph. Were we living in a world where emotions were esteemed, the government would subvention him courses to help him live in society at full-capacity. He might even get someone assigned to check up on his emotional state every once in a while." Clark meant every word he said. Disabilities came in many shapes and forms; the world may not yet recognize the emotionally disabled, but they existed. Bruce was one of them.

It wasn't funny, even if Bruce's kids laughed about it, calling it emotional constipation. Maybe they didn't understand how much Bruce suffered because of his emotional disability. Seeing Bruce in distress because he couldn't discern his feelings had never been entertaining to Clark.

It would never be a joke to him.


End file.
